Getting fed in

CAN’T wait to get in on the feed-in-tariff act and start generating your own green electricity? But how exactly do you do it, and how much money do you need to pay?

According to Ahmad Hadri Haris of Pusat Tenaga Malaysia, the process of applying for feed-in tariff will be similar to that of getting a car.

“When you buy a car, the car dealer settles everything for you – from the insurance, the road tax and so on. We are proposing the same concept here. All you have to do is go to a service provider who will be like a car dealer. You key in your details online, and you will know on the spot which tariff you are eligible for. You then go to Tenaga Nasional Bhd to sign a contract, and then apply for a bank loan.

“Then, after paying the down payment to the service provider, they will do everything else on your behalf – install the renewable energy system, and then provide customer service to you. The only difference is that the value of a car drops as soon as you drive it, but here, the value of the property will increase instead.”

Unlike the Suria 1000 project, which only the well-to-do could afford because the houseowner has to fork out the capital for the photovoltaic sysem on his own, practically anyone can apply for a feed-in tariff (FIT) system.

“You can apply for a loan based on the contract with the utilities, which is good for 21 years and is backed by the FIT law. Once you get the loan, you will be able to get the system up almost immediately,” said Hadri.

“We have calculated that the revenue garnered from FIT will be higher than the payment to the bank every month, taking into account the low interest rate and repayment period of the loan.”

To encourage consumers to get into the FIT game early, they will also introduce something called digression. For example, if you sign a contract for the first year, it will be fixed for the next 21 years. If you do it a year later, you will get lower prices, which will still be fixed for 21 years.

Now, all that we have to do is wait. Once the Government passes the FIT law, we can all be independent – and green – power producers.